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SYMPHONY, by                    
First Line: I have knelt in great cathedrals
Last Line: As the symphony ... On the farm.
Subject(s): Music & Musicians; Singing & Singers; Symphonies; Concerts


I have knelt in great cathedrals,
Felt the organ's throbbing roll;
I have sung with the congregation,
For the good ... of my heart ... and soul.

I have listened ... in many places—
To strains that are famed afar;
Until the soul within me .....
Reached out ... to a distant star.

But ... sweetest music to my ear
I shall hear it evermore—
I listened to with ... mother,
On the bench by the farm-house door.

We would sing old songs together
As we shelled a pan of peas—
Soft summer winds a-rustling
The elms ... and maple trees.

I can hear the creak of harness ...
Hoof beats ... down the old field road;
And daddy's cheery whistling
As he rode a-top ... the load.

I can smell the new-hay perfume,
Hear the champing of the bays;
The clanking chain on the whiffle-tree,
The droning hum of harvest days.

There were meadow-larks and bob-whites,
And robins in the spring—
In fall ... the quail and pheasant,
And the cricket choir would sing.

There were sleigh bells in the winter,
Pealing out ... their joyous sound;
And mother ringing the dinner bell,
With the 'gang' all gathered round.

There's no place I've yet discovered,
That holds such simple charm—
No melody so entrancing ...
As the symphony ... on the farm.





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